Writer and broadcaster Larry Hickock interviewed physicist and author Colin Gillespie in 2012. Their sweeping conversation discussed the unsolved mysteries of physics today—and covered the history of the discipline from Newton to the most cutting-edge theories we have on the principles that underpin reality. This Changes Everything grew out of that fascinating conversation—sure to fascinate anyone with a healthy curiosity about our universe.
Few would argue that the scientific revolution that began in the early 20th century transformed virtually every facet of our everyday lives, but what has it done for us lately? Quite a lot, you might well say, but in This Changes Everything author and scientist Colin Gillespie suggests that the revolution has barely gotten off the ground. He is quick to acknowledge and celebrate the victories (notably of general relativity and quantum mechanics) but in this provocative essay he looks at what holds us back from reaching even greater accomplishments and comes up with a startling conclusion. He sets out to revisit historical advances and frame them through the lens of imagination (what Einstein called a "thought experiment") to come up with a new take on cosmology and physics - an elegant insight that changes everything.
Colin Gillespie
Colin Gillespie is a physicist turned lawyer turned author. He has an insatiable curiosity and an off-the-charts IQ. He has a passion not only for science but for literature (with an especially warm spot for fictional detectives). These are mixed with an abiding sense of personal humility and social responsibility, a wicked sense of humour, and a seemingly boundless source of energy.Over the course of an eclectic 40-year career, he has researched, lectured, explored the world (50 countries and counting). A distinguished scientist, he has written more than 30 articles in international peer-reviewed journals on radiation biology, biophysics, neurophysiology, and physics. As a lawyer he has written on environmental law, indigenous and aboriginal law, and space law.Since 2008 he has worked fulltime on a question he has pondered since his youth. What happened in the beginning? Due in spring of 2013, his second book, Time One: Discover How the Universe Began, answers this question in a simple way that challenges prevailing theories and attitudes about the origin of everything.
